KATHLEEN SEBELIUS TO RESIGN: It’s been a rocky five years, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is ready to say goodbye to her role in the Obama administration. Mrs. Sebelius presided over the wave of technical problems that have plagued the health law since its rollout began last fall, but news about enrollment in the exchanges had become more positive in the last month. Mrs. Sebelius said earlier Thursday that 7.5 million people had enrolled through federal and state exchanges—a number that exceeds expectations.

European Pressphoto Agency

President Barack Obama is expected to announce at 11 a.m. today that she will be succeeded by Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Experts said Mrs. Sebelius’s departure wasn’t necessarily inevitable, but it does come at “a natural pausing point,” just over a week past the March 31 enrollment deadline. Ms. Burwell will have plenty of decisions to make as the health law moves into its second year. Louise Radnofsky and Carol E. Lee report: http://on.wsj.com/1sIuvbY And Gerald F. Seib explains why Mrs. Sebelius’s exit won’t end the partisan divide over the law: http://on.wsj.com/1izPJ3y

–Rebecca Ballhaus

PETER NICHOLAS’S EARLY HIT: GOP PLAN OF ATTACK AGAINST CLINTON
Republicans want Hillary Clinton‘s State Department years to become a political liability, as Bain Capital was for Mitt Romney in 2012. Their case comes down to several points. For one, they contend she accomplished little as the nation’s top diplomat, with no major peace deal to show for all the miles she racked up. Read Peter Nicholas’s full post in Washington Wire: http://on.wsj.com/1lV43dI

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

WSJ STORIES YOU SHOULDN’T MISSMARKET DATA LEAKED: During a conference call for industry officials last December, an official with the agency in charge of Medicare spending provided data suggesting that federal funding for private Medicare plans might fall more than expected. That information prompted a selloff in insurance shares, causing shares of several major health insurers to take a dive. Anna Wilde Mathews and Brody Mullins explain how it happened: http://on.wsj.com/1eq0kCW

GOP BUDGET PASSES HOUSE: Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan narrowly passed the House Thursday, though 12 Republican congressmen—including three Georgia Republicans competing in a Senate primary—voted against it. Most Republicans who defected argued the plan wouldn’t do enough to curb federal spending. Some lawmakers facing tough general-election races in November opposed the budget because of its cuts to education and changes to Medicare. Kristina Peterson reports: http://on.wsj.com/1iyeptn

PAY GAP IS IN THE DETAILS: Though the president has described the equal pay debate as “not that complicated,” it turns out that the most frequently touted statistic—that women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn—is rather complicated. A close look at the economic data on wages and gender show that slogan leaves out several key factors—including hours, choice of jobs, and benefits preferences—that help drive the gap. Josh Zumbrun reports: http://on.wsj.com/1sIMm2C

ALSO IN THE NEWS: The federal regulator of the U.S. electricity grid is taking steps to protect it, clamping down on public disclosure of potentially sensitive material: http://on.wsj.com/1iz2Kuf … Investors unloaded shares of once-highflying biotechnology and Internet companies Thursday out of fear they are overvalued: http://on.wsj.com/1epQIb2… A divide among unions is boosting Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s re-election campaign: http://on.wsj.com/1sIIA9p … The encryption bug known as “Heartbleed” also affects the equipment that connects the web, including Cisco routers and Juniper gear: http://on.wsj.com/1sIbLte

–Compiled by Rebecca Ballhaus

JERRY SEIB: DEMOCRATS TRIPLE DOWN ON WAGE EQUALITY
Ahead of a competitive midterm election, Democrats are pushing three fronts of an equality message based on income fairness: minimum wage increase, unemployment benefits, and equal pay for women. However, Republicans continue to oppose such legislation saying it kills jobs. VIDEO: http://on.wsj.com/Qcwoi2

HERE’S A LOOK AT THE DAY AHEAD
–Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel meets with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Pentagon.
–Secretary of State John Kerry meets Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiya at 2 p.m.
–President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Action Network Convention in New York City.
–The International Monetary Fund/World Bank spring meetings begin in Washington, D.C. http://on.wsj.com/1lVaMUY

WHAT WE’RE READING AROUND THE WEB
Ben Domenech of the Federalist sees the resignation of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as a problem for Democrats and a golden opportunity for Republicans: “This surprise resignation presents Republicans with an unexpected opportunity to refocus the conversation on Obamacare’s negatives, offers a chance to force vulnerable Senate Democrats to take a hard vote on Obamacare six months before the midterms, and serves to disrupt what had been a positive few days of media spin for the health care law into another conversation about its many failings.” http://bit.ly/1lV7lOh

In the New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes that Sebelius deserves neither all the blame for Obamacare’s disastrous rollout, or all the credit for its more recent successes: “It’s a typical, if predictable, failure of Washington to demand a fall guy when things go wrong. But responsibility rarely lies with just one person.” http://bit.ly/1lV7ocF

Susan Page of USA Today sees Sebelius being remembered this way: “The enduring image of her five-year tenure as head of the huge agency is likely to be as the silver-haired woman sitting alone at a congressional hearing table, peering over reading glasses as she faced what often seemed to be an inquisition.” http://usat.ly/1lV7q4q

Molly Ball of The Atlantic doubts that campaign wizardry and high technology are enough to solve Democrats’ problems in this year’s midterm elections; she writes that “the emphasis on magic tricks is a symptom of something else as well: the difficult landscape the party confronts in 2014.” http://bit.ly/1lV7wsK

Former President Jimmy Carter this week was critical of both President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for not leaping more energetically into the search for Israeli-Palestinian peace, but former State Department diplomat Aaron David Miller isn’t buying it. Writing on CNN.com, he says: “I’ve been critical of Obama and Clinton. But blasting them for failure to leap into the throes of a broken peace process isn’t a valid criticism.” http://cnn.it/1lV7zok

MILESTONE
Jobless claims declined by 32,000 to 300,000 for the week ended April 5, the lowest number since May 2007. http://on.wsj.com/1lV8NQE

TWEET OF THE DAY@SenJohnMcCain: Sylvia Burwell is an excellent choice to be the next #HHS Secretary http://bit.ly/1lV5Rnc

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Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.